Thankful.

This Thanksgiving, there were a lot of thoughts on my mind about the past 365 days and how each day has brought some sort of blessing into my life. This year has been the most fun, stressfilled, difficult, exhausting, exciting and anxious filled year of my life. Who know being a quarter of  a century could end up like mine did. from planning a wedding, to dealing with anxiety disorder and the life of a new married couple, pilled up with car accidents, bills and responsibilities, where can one find the blessings some times. No wonder some people give up, because it isn't easy. My parents always made it look easy to me, or at least i saw it that way. I am so thankful for all this added knowledge I have gained this year on a new form of "responsibilities." I'm so thankful for my husband, whom without would be so difficult to deal with circumstances that have arose in my life,I'm thankful that he is active in our church and able to give me the priesthood blessings I need in times of despair. I am so thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the atonement and my knowledge of this glorious gospel. I am so thankful for families, both in-laws and mine own, for their love and support in all that my hubs and I do.

This Thanksgiving we went to 3 different events, first Lunch with the Utupo clan, whom we love so dearly. Monty's grandmother came down from Las Vegas so we had a special program for her and we really enjoyed her company, she is such a sweet lady. I'm so thankful for her big heart and her love that she not only has but shows for me and our family, she is such an angel to me. We had a small,ahem, "small" lunch consisting of turkey, ham, taro, oka, macncheesie, and such yums. After lunch us "kids" went off and the boys played their video games and us girls became models on my iPad, it was fun!

After, we had a little family home evening where we all shared one thing we were thankful for that year. I vividly remember doing the same last year and it was such a bonding and sweet experience that we got to re-do this year. I am so thankful for the little things that matter.

We then traveled all of a mile back to our place where my mom was having our family dinner. Everyone grabbed their food on the endless buffet table that served not only turkey but some mexican rice, avocados and moms home made beans. The night was filled with smiles, babies crying and an overall good time. I'm grateful for my growing family, have I mentioned that 4 of our cousins are expecting babies next year? Its going to be an amazing addition to our families, we obviously never stop growing! My sister lend me her camera tonight, here are some of my favorite moments of this joyous thanksgiving!

mrs.stevenson

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birthday fun!

Well, it has been a while since i've posted about life. monty's birthday was november 2nd and since we've been having issues with work hours and such, we've been on a pretty tight budget lately. That didn't stop me from throwing a surprise birthday party for the hubs. i had rallied his cousins to come out in their troops :) along with some of our good friends stephanie and miguel who were the perfect kidnappers in my oh so secretive plans. haha. steph works with monty so i had asked her if she and miguel(husbands bff&stephs bf) would be oh so kind to "kidnap" my husband after he got off work the night of his actual birthday. so the plans were set and surprise surprise, he had no clue! the party was fun, the boys played their nba game while us girls chatted on next years plans! i cannot believe we are 25 already, it is insane to think that in just 2 months i will be heading into the late twenties and turning 26, snif snif. here's a few pictures of the party!

Days like these rock :)

Dear today, you rocked! I am so proud of myself once again for eating healthy over eating bc it tastes good! Yesterday I was telling  the husband that I was craving some Tams burgers because,c'mon they are just so good, just thinking about one makes my mouth water! Haha but after getting to work and seeing that everyone had gotten tams and realizing that I would save money and eat less carbs if I just ate the meals that I had made at home. So I passed on the tams and just ate my lunch without stealing a single French fry, that my friends, is a serious achievement! 

This morning before work Monty and I woke up early so I could take him to a job agency so he could apply for a second job. Although we love his current job we are just struggling financially so we have to look for something that will pay the bills. So after that I came home and had some me time and was able to do my make up before I went into work and such. During this little make over I looked at my face and realized that I felt pretty and some what skinny, well skinnier than Monday. I  feel good, I feel like this is working and I really like it. I went running again today and then did my insanity so I'm pretty beat. Just wanted to update for you guys! Thanks for the support!

Tootsie roll work outs

   So I am proud to state that today I completed the third day of insanity,woohoo! I am so proud of myself for getting through the rut of today and working on my fitness. Last night I even cooked a healthy meal! My husband has been very supportive, although I wish he would join me on the insanity part. I'm thankful that he supports me and sits in the car while I run a mile at the park because he's scared something might happen to me, it's the little things. Well so far I don't think I've lost anything other than water weight or just last weeks digested meals. I feel good, feeling sore is better than feeling sorry for myself tomorrow. I do crave a cheeseburger from Tams though, maybe if I get one tomorrow ill run 3 miles and do some insanity, I'll also make sure I don't eat anything other than that tomorrow.Or I can Just skip it.

So after I got home today my sister Veronica came over with the puppy we got her and my niece last week.Monty had seen a video on YouTube on how you can make sweaters out of socks for doggies so when I brought him to our place(we live behind my parents and my sis technically went to visit momma)we decided it would be super cute to make him a sweater! I looked through my sock drawer,assuming husband socks might be stinky and far too big,haha, I found this sock I've had for years, I don't even think it was ever truly mine to begin with but it ended up in my sock drawer. We cut the toes off then cut slits in the heels, then we made the sock a little shorter by trimming the end and viola, he's an adorable tootsie roll!my mom loved it along with sis and nephew and niece. I'm pretty proud of myself for making this adorablenes even cuter! Well that is all of the update I've got for you today! With love, 

REstart

  So  exactly 60 days ago I put myself on a sixty day challenge to try and do INSANITY from beginning to end and promised all of you that I would  be updating,keeping  you motivated and so on and so forth. Well if any of you have been keeping up with my life and my recent blog post you will know that due to my anxious state of mind I was unable to keep my promise.Well in these past two months I've been pretty low, it's just been hard for us. I feel like I've gained some unnecessary pounds and I don't feel healthy. So much of me wants to change and I feel like I've been trying and giving up and it's just not good. I guess one big thing  is that I've been eating a lot of junk and not watching what I'm eating. I decided that it would be great to REstart. I mean I'm not perfect, I'm human we all make mistakes so I'm going to try once more. I started today, my husband even joined me for a mile walk/run at liberty park. Then I came home and started insanity allover  again!

                

I feel great right now and I just want to keep moving forward with this!i want to try a 10 day juice cleanse and then start eating cleaner. But I will try my best to get down in weight and size within 60   Days from now, right before Christmas!I really want to look good on Christmas and New Years so I'll make that my goal! 

Xoxo mayra s. 

the one thing that brings me the most JOY....

Is hearing a baby laugh. I mean almost instantaneously i am just filled with absolute joy to the point where i could cry just thinking about a baby laughing. it is the happiest expression in the most virtuous and lovely form ever. I sit here thinking about all the things that bring me happiness in life because lately, i've been a little pessimistic, and i don't like thinking like that because, ahem helllooo ...anxiety
Ive been reading other blogs and lately i ran into a blog about this family whos mom had a seizure at the grocery store, mother of 5, has a baby. Well that seizure was caused by a cancerous tumor in her brain, her brain. oh goodness. i can cry right now. i felt so terrible reading about it, i wish i could send her some much positivity, i send it via knee mail for sure. But in her blog, you would never guess she's probably more anxious in life than me, i couldn't even think of relating our anxieties. One thing i loved about this woman was her positivity about it all, how she knew she was going to get through it, and how she is going to FIGHT for her life, for her CHILDREN. so strong. I mean i cried when i found out she had cancer, this is a real story, this is a real woman, this is real life. it can be so sad at times, so full of sorrows and trials, but oh can we fight it. we can get through it.

we can get through it.

one thing that i loved hearing from my uh,therapist (sounds so weird to say i have a therapist) is that in order to get things BETTER, we have to take a risk, without taking a risk, we are STUCK. so we gottta take a risk, it may be OH so scary, we may not want to do it, but it has to happen in order to get things better. i am getting anxiety just thinking about it. but it is true, we have to take a little leap, we've gotta have faith. we gotta do GOOD.

i have come to realize that my irrationalities don't control me, i control me. i act upon myself, i choose what i let in my mind, and at tthis moment, and forever, i will choose good, i will choose happiness, i will always choose righteousness and i will always choose my LOVING Heavenly Father.

It is october, so we, LDS folk, are eager for a great weekend full of guidance from our Prophet Thomas S. Monson, to hear uplifting talks that are meant for all of us. I cannot wait, my heart is dancing.

Thank you. thank you for taking the time to read about my life and remember, find your happiness, be in control, and do the right thing. always.

Mayra d. Stevenson

:)